Christmas is a time of giving and receiving, so if you’re in charge of marketing your company’s Christmas campaign this year, it’s essential that you get creative!
The successful companies who have implemented noteworthy Christmas campaigns have done so by combining their brand identity with the true meaning of Christmas.
Here are some ideas for a successful Christmas marketing campaign that will not only spread joy but also help you attract new members, stand out from the competition and develop meaningful connections with your community.
Create a sense of pride and belonging in your employees
One of the most important aspects of any successful marketing campaign is the ability to bring out a sense of pride in your employees. If you have happy employees who feel proud to be working for your company, they will be more likely to spread joy and talk about your brand to engaged customers.
Employees can be inspired to take pride in their work if they know how it affects other people's lives. For example, if your organisation helps people in your community in one way or another, you can craft narratives and content to publicise to your employees and members to demonstrate how you are inspiring or assisting people or businesses achieve success.
You can accomplish this by showing how you are assisting or inspiring people or businesses to generate more revenue or build a support community that assists people in improving their quality of life.
Reward your best customers and partners
A successful marketing campaign can also bring your brand closer to its best customers and partners. You can start off by rewarding these individuals in your company in a way that makes them feel special. This could be exclusive discounts to loyal members, a Christmas event where you celebrate the success of your community and those who've helped you grow to where you are now. You could also simply ask them to share their favourite experiences with your brand to help you develop content to share with the rest of the world.
For your partners and suppliers, you can reward them by explaining how they helped you reach new heights. You can also let them know how they can reach out to their audiences to share the joy of partnering with your company.
For example, if you work in FMCG, you can reward your best customers by thanking them for their support. You can also ask them to share their favourite memories and meals that they prepared with your food products.
You can also reward your partners by letting them know how their products can help create special moments in people’s lives.
Help those who are less fortunate
Another way to create a successful holiday marketing campaign is to help those who are less fortunate in your local community or around the world. Many of the best companies in the world promote this idea during the Christmas season because it’s the true meaning of Christmas: bringing joy to others.
You can assist the less fortunate in a variety of ways, including donating toys to children in need or helping at foodbanks or homeless shelters in your community. Alternatively, you can help them by raising funds through your online marketing campaigns that will be used to assist with their expenses.
Even better, you can encourage your members to participate in these types of good deeds. It will certainly tug on the heartstrings of some of your members and leave them feeling great about the experience and your organisation for motivating them to contribute.
This makes members feel more connected to the community, and this is shown through the work and volunteering you do. It's a win-win for everyone, and it's the ideal way to express your Christmas spirit.
Ensure people remember your brand through your campaign’s message
A successful marketing campaign leaves a mark on the minds of people, especially potential customers. If you want your customers to remember your brand, you have to make sure that the message of your campaign is unforgettable.
You can accomplish this by making the theme of your campaign extremely relatable. Think about it, every Christmas, brands compete for the best adverts - John Lewis, Asda, Sainsbury's, etc - you know the ones we are talking about. These adverts all pull on relatable situations the majority of us experience. This helps us feel more connected and make us want to watch on, even when the waterworks start.
Think about what themes resonate with your community members, what common experiences do they share and how can you use those experiences to develop a successful Christmas marketing message.
Here are some of those famous adverts we mentioned:
Boots
John Lewis
Asda
Mention the importance of family and friends during the holiday season
Another way to create a successful holiday campaign is to talk about the importance of family and friends during the holiday season. You can start off by mentioning how your brand is like a family and what you do internally to help them have a great Christmas. You can also ask your customers to share their favourite memories of the holidays and what they love most about spending time with their families.
Commit to being eco-friendly during the holiday season
One of the ways you can stand out from the competition during the holiday season is by committing to being eco-friendly. You can start off by making sure that all the materials and products that you use are eco-friendly. You can also let your customers know how their purchases are helping the environment.
For example, if you sell products, you can let your customers know that the products they purchase from you are made from eco-friendly materials. You can also let them know how their purchases help the environment by discouraging people from buying cheap, poor-quality products that are harmful to the world we live in.
If you were a food company, you can let your customers know that the ingredients that go into the products they purchase are eco-friendly. You can also let them know how their purchases are helping the environment by discouraging people from eating processed foods that are made from harmful chemicals.
You could also partner up with organisations like B Corp, or Ecologi to show you're serious about the environment. These partnerships give you the opportunity to produce a library of new marketing material and helps members buy in to your community even further.
Other Ideas to inspire you
- Publish a series of advent calendar social content - release a new snippet of information, or a new offer every day.
- Partner with influencers - Find influencers that can help promote your community values over the festive period.
- Host a 12 Days of Christmas promotion - Rework the classic song to your own lyrics and add some light hearted humour into your marketing content .
- Host a Christmas event - Bring your members together for the festive period and show your commitment to those members.
- Use countdown offers - Bring a sense or urgency to your campaigns to get your members to act before Christmas is upon them.
- Run Christmas competitions - Get your members involved and run competitions over the festive period, whether they're quizzes, raffles, or user generated content competitions, you'll be sure to benefit.
Conclusion
The Christmas season is a beautiful time of year to come together as a community and help others who are less fortunate. By getting creative and implementing one of the ideas listed above, you can create a successful holiday marketing campaign that will not only stand out from the competition but also be meaningful to your membership.
